Nuclear radiation gauges have been and are being employed for measuring physical characteristics and properties of materials. Specific examples include the use of nuclear radiation gauges to measure thickness, density, and moisture content. In applications in which such measurements are to be made while surveying an area for variations across the area, typical processes involve defining a grid to be applied to the area to be surveyed, and then measuring the characteristic or property at a plurality of points in the grid while noting the measurement readings. Thereafter, necessary calculations and mapping can be performed from field notes. Other types of applications may involve registering variations over time, particularly with respect to moisture content. Applications in which such techniques have met with some success include surveying land areas such as fields for moisture content, surveying construction site areas such as airport runways for density, and surveying road construction projects for thickness of paving materials applied.
While surveying practices such as those mentioned above have achieved some acceptance in at least certain fields, such practices are subject to operator error and are time-consuming. As a consequence, access to the result of a survey conducted using a nuclear radiation gauge and as described above is usually delayed.